Two Koreas to hold second round of high-level talks

Protesters cut up a North Korean flag during an anti-North Korea rally denouncing the cancellation of Koreas high-level talks in downtown Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, June 12, 2013. The Koreas’ first high-level talks in years were scrapped a day before they were to begin Wednesday because the sides didn’t agree on the delegation leaders, South Korea said. The cancellation deflated tentative hopes that the rivals would improve ties following years of rising hostility. The letters read “No more concession, South and North Government Level Talks, Disuse North Korea’s nuclear.” (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

SEOUL — North and South Korea will hold a second round of high-level talks on Friday, the South’s Unification Ministry said, as they seek to resolve a row over looming South Korea-US military drills.

The meeting will again be held at the border truce village of Panmunjom with the same vice minister-level delegations that participated in a first round of talks on Wednesday.

They mark the highest-level sit-down between the two rivals since 2007.

Wednesday’s discussions ran late into the night, but ended without any tangible agreement or joint statement.

Although the talks have no fixed agenda, the South is focused on ensuring that a planned reunion later this month for family members separated by the 1950-53 Korean War goes ahead as scheduled.

The North is insisting that the start of South Korea’s annual military exercises with the United States, which overlaps with the reunion event, be postponed.

Seoul has refused, arguing that the two issues cannot be linked.

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